The Blind Pig: Scottsdale's Newest "Meat Market"

The Blind Pig in South Scottsdale is the new venture of restaurateurs Bob and Sally Ann Molinari (Uncle Sal's Italian Eatery, the Side Door bar and restaurant) and Bret Pont, owner of Hobe Meats, a butcher shop in business for more than 50 years in Phoenix.

Whether The Blind Pig's decidedly meaty slant or its centerpiece, a gleaming glass case stretching from one wall to the other and full of freshly butchered offerings, makes it a a butcher shop with a restaurant or a restaurant with a butcher shop is a question worth pondering -- especially over some very good eats.

"Unlike its sister restaurants, the meat here heads south in a way, to Mexico, where it's transformed into the country's familiar street foods but with a decidedly Americanized slant. So if your idea of a proper Mexican antojito involves pit-roasted meat, regional cheese, and someone manning a tronco, you'll probably have better luck someplace else. But if you can handle a very good Portobello- and shiitake-stuffed quesadilla, a version of the tlayuda that trades a crackly corn tortilla for a decent pizza crust, and a tamale finished in a cream corn and cilantro sauce, this is your place. And given The Pig's humble prices for its well-prepared premium-meat dishes, one that's easy on the wallet."

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